reading othello and rather wishing we hadn't

We currently have two favourite sets of books we are working our way through. One I mentioned in an earlier post - The "My Story" series and the other is a Shakespeare stories for children collection.

I shall be honest and admit that I loaned these books from the library in the hope of providing some interesting and educational reading material. I told the kids my plan from the outset, and also said that they didn't have to listen if they weren't interested. I pinched the idea of reading at lunchtime from Grit a while ago, and find it works really well. The kids are quite happy to listen to any thing while they munch. I've read every thing at lunch time from the RSPC Garden Bird Book and Alice in Wonderland, to the local councils recycling leaflet. I like to call it non-invasive reading, it kind of washes over you, and you can choose to tune in, or not at the case may be.

The Cleopatra story from the first series was really good. I wouldn't like to comment on historical accuracy as the book itself admits some details are hazy, but it gave us a chance to talk about Egyptian daily life, and also ponder the possibility that Cleopatra may have been more Greek than Egyptian owing to her ancestry...some thing I didn't realise until now.

Should I be embarressed that I am learning so much from a book aimed at children?

I'm not that easily embarressed truth be told. When you've stood in a queue in a supermarket with a screaming toddler dangling off one arm, two boys poking each other ferociously in the eye and a whole load of people behind you muttering about the fact that they are even there during school hours, admitting to reading a kids book is nothing.

Actually - and here I go veering well off the post theme - I have learnt so much since we started home educating. I know it sounds a bit trite, but I really am learning alongside them. Whenever we do a project of any kind, I am right in the thick of it with the kids, oohing and aahing and exclaiming. I especially love the "1001 things you didn't know" type of books.

So, getting back to the topic in hand. This time we were choosing a book for bedtime.

Othello.

Bit grim really.

I knew I should have stuck with "A Midsummer Night's Dream". It was Eb's turn to choose and he gave me Othello or Richard III, which I thought would give them all nightmares. I couldn't remember the story of Othello, but the front cover looked fairly cheery.

Only the first paragraph was remotely happy, from then on it's all nasty plotting and jealousy and horrible deaths. Hardly the stuff of bed time stories.

Luckily Mb and Lb were so whacked they fell asleep just as Iago was scheming, but Eb and Od were awake and wide eyed until the end. Normally there is an arguement over who gets to re-read the book in bed after we've finished.

Funnily enough neither of them wanted this one.